Abstract

The T cell surface molecule CD28 can provide costimulatory signals that permit the full activation of T cells. Here we demonstrate that stimulation of CD28, either by B7, its natural ligand, or by the anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody 9.3, induces an association between CD28 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) in Jurkat T cells, raising the possibility that an interaction with PI3-K contributes to CD28-mediated signaling. To examine the mechanism of the association, we synthesized tyrosine-phosphorylated oligopeptides corresponding to each of the four tyrosines in the CD28 cytoplasmic domain. When added to lysates of B7-stimulated Jurkat cells, the oligopeptide corresponding to Tyr 173 inhibits the coimmunoprecipitation of PI3-K with CD28; the other oligopeptides have no effect. Tyr 173 is contained within the sequence YMNM, a motif that is also found in the platelet-derived growth factor receptor and that, when phosphorylated, forms a high affinity binding site for the p85 subunit of PI3-K. These observations suggest that phosphorylation of Tyr 173 may mediate the interaction between CD28 and PI3-K. However, because CD28 is not known to be phosphorylated, it remains possible that CD28 interacts with PI3-K through a mechanism independent of tyrosine phosphorylation.